This invention is related in general to configuring devices on a network and more specifically to device managers, systems, and methods for coordinating network configurations between two or more such devices in the same or different network management domains.
In many network configurations, specific commands are required to allow different devices (e.g., routers, firewall protectors, etc.) on the network to work together. For example, in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) configuration, the devices to be included in the VPN must be configured to operate and share information with each other. Similarly, in many other networks, such as Wide Area Network (WAN) arrangements, “peer” devices need to be configured to realize a “connection.” Conventionally, such configurations are done on each device in that device's native command format.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrating a conventional device configuration approach is indicated by the general reference character 100. Cisco Internet Operating System (IOS) router 102 interfaces with IOS device manager 104. When Cisco IOS router 102 is configured using IOS Command Line Interface (CLI) 106, an example of which is shown in box 120, this configuration may be supplied to other devices on the same network. For example, IOS CLI 106 may be supplied to PIX device manager 108 for PIX 110 configuration, Linux VPN manager 112 for Linux 114 configuration, and IOS device manager 116 for IOS 118 configuration. However, only IOS device managers 104 and 116 understand the IOS native command format. Accordingly, PIX device manager 108 and Linux VPN manager 112 will need to be otherwise directly provided (e.g., by software programming) with commands in their native command format. Unfortunately, conventional approaches do not facilitate the sharing of configuration information to support different native command formats.